Creepy clown sightings spook America

A series of creepy clown sightings across the United States has caused a wave of hysteria, forcing police and schools to scramble to contain spreading jitters, and even the White House to weigh-in.

The spooky sightings were first reported last month in South Carolina when police were called in to investigate what turned out to be bogus accounts of men dressed as clowns trying to lure children into the woods.

But similar incidents have since been reported in more than a dozen states with authorities forced to react to stories of clowns lurking outside schools or businesses, armed clowns driving around in a van or clowns prowling neighbourhoods.

At least five hundred students from Penn State University, in Pennsylvania, went on the hunt earlier this week wielding baseball bats and hockey sticks after a rumour spread a clown was in the local area.

Coming just weeks before Halloween, when millions of children across the United States don costumes and go house-to-house trick-or-treating, the frenzy has become a social media sensation with the hashtag #IfISeeAClown trending on twitter and the @SpookyClowns account attracting 186,000 followers.

Sergeant Juan Briseno, of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, said patrols outside schools had been increased in the city of Carson, south of downtown Los Angeles, following a threatening message on Twitter about clowns targeting an area high school.

"I have sent our school deputy to go speak with every school within our jurisdiction and make them aware of the situation," Mr Briseno said.

The city of Lancaster, north of Los Angeles, was also swept into the frenzy this week after men wearing clown masks were seen walking around in what police said was an attempt to frighten people.

At one school in Oregon, officials sent an email to worried parents this week reassuring them after a rumour spread about clowns planning to harm local students.

The White House weighed in on the phenomenon this week saying the sinister sightings that have led to about a dozen arrests should be taken seriously and that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security had been consulted on how to handle the scare.

"Obviously, this is a situation that local law enforcement authorities take quite seriously and they should carefully and thoroughly review, you know, perceived threats to the safety of the community and they should do so prudently," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

Experts said the epidemic of real or imagined sightings and ensuing hysteria could be explained by "coulrophobia", a long-documented phenomenon which denotes a fear of clowns.

"The last number that I have heard is that one in almost 10 people report a phobia of clowns," said Matthew Lorber, director of the child and adolescent psychiatry program at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York.

"For kids, to not be able to see somebody's real face is what makes the clown so scary," Mr Lorber added.

He said social media was feeding the current scare, which he warned could cause lasting trauma and panic attacks among younger children.

"Dangerous fads tend to catch and social media really fuels them," he said.

Stephen King, whose 1986 horror novel "It" featuring a malevolent clown, took to Twitter earlier this week to “cool down the clown hysteria”.

“Hey, guys, time to cool the clown hysteria -- most of em are good, cheer up the kiddies, make people laugh," he tweeted.